Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the wholesale sector and safeguard food supplies to schools, care homes, hospitals and other critical public service infrastructure.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a range of temporary financial support to the wholesale sector, a key supplier of food to critical public service organisations, to ensure its ongoing viability through this difficult period. Wholesalers are eligible for a number of schemes, including: the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help keep millions of people in employment and the Discretionary Grant Fund for small and micro businesses that are not eligible for other grant schemes.

In addition to this, Defra has been working with the charity sector through the Food Charity Grant Scheme which gives charities up to £100,000 in grant funding to purchase food to support the most economically vulnerable. Through this scheme, Defra has encouraged charities that do not have established suppliers to purchase stock from wholesalers and local producers, both to support the sector and to reduce waste.

A range of Government departments hold responsibility for public sector food provision for specific sectors including schools, care homes, hospitals and prisons. My department is working closely with officials from the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defence to support them in making arrangements with their suppliers to ensure food supply continues to these public sector institutions.